Eagle County hosts first of four electric vehicle ‘ride and drive’ events on Thursday, Sept. 6

An electric car charges at Walking Mountains Science Center using the newly installed station in Avon on Friday. Eagle County now has 12 public charging stations for electric vehicles.Townsend Bessent | Townsend@vaildaily.com |

Eagle County will host the first of four electric vehicle “ride and drive” events for the regional Electric Vehicle Sales Event, giving drivers a chance to see and test-drive a variety of plug-in vehicles. The ride and drive will run from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6, on the west side of the Eagle County Building, located at 500 Broadway in downtown Eagle. It’s a good opportunity for motorists to drop by and check out a plug-in electric vehicle, talk with auto sales staff and take a short test drive. Ride and drive events will also be held on Sept. 11 in Glenwood Springs, Sept. 12 in Avon and Sept. 14 in Aspen, all in conjunction with National Drive Electric Week. The Electric Vehicle Sales Event, aimed at drivers in Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties, offers discounts for the purchase or lease of plug-in electric vehicles from six auto dealerships, now through Oct. 31. Participating dealers are Audi Glenwood Springs, Mountain Chevrolet, Berthod Motors, Phil Long Honda and Bighorn Toyota, all in Glenwood Springs, and Red Rock Nissan in Grand Junction. The dealer discounts are for plug-in electric-gasoline hybrid models and for plug-in all-electric vehicles. The discounts can be combined with the state of Colorado’s $5,000 tax credit for purchase or $2,500 tax credit for lease, and a federal tax credit of up to $7,500. Together, they can significantly drive down the cost of a lease or purchase. Electric vehicles are also less costly to operate. The electricity equivalent of a gallon of gasoline costs about $1.10 per “e-gallon.” The Electric Vehicle Sales Event is led by Garfield Clean Energy, CLEER and Refuel Colorado, and sponsored by Holy Cross Energy, City of Glenwood Springs, City of Aspen, Town of Vail, Eagle County, CORE, Walking Mountains Science Center, Alpine Bank and Colorado Mountain News Media.

More information about the ride and drive events, vehicles, dealerships, discounts and tax credits is available on the Garfield Clean Energy website at http://www.GarfieldCleanEnergy.org. Call CLEER at 970-704-9200 for more information.